How should history be told? A case study in the adoption of an 8th Grade history book in Greece.
Each of the articles was taken from the Kathimerini English Version.
Read each of the articles and record your responses on a separate sheet of paper to the questions that follow each article.
Christodoulos wants history book rewrittenThe head of the Church of Greece, Archbishop Christodoulos, has criticized the teaching of history to 12-year-olds, claiming they are not being taught about the impact of Ottoman rule, as Greece does not want to upset Turkey.
“Is it possible for other people to learn about our country’s history, philosophy and language but for us to discard this for the sake of friendship with any neighboring country?” said Christodoulos during his Sunday sermon.
A new history textbook for sixth-year junior high school students has sparked controversy since it was introduced some six months ago. Some people feel that it attempts to portray Ottoman rule in softer light.
The archbishop claims the book overlooks the role of the Church in the 1821 uprising. He said Greece is trying to produce more “technocrats and engineers” and neglecting the need for children to be taught philosophy and history.
2-20-2007
What is the problem according to the Archbishop?
What is the source of the problem? Explain.
History book divides opinion
Controversy mounted yesterday over a history textbook for 12-year-olds, which critics accuse of glossing over the hardships that Greeks faced under Ottoman rule in favor of adopting a more politically correct approach.
Representatives of five scientific journals said during a press conference yesterday that they have lodged an appeal with the Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, to have the book classified as “unconstitutional.”
Some 4,000 signatures have also been gathered as part of a petition to have the book, which is used by sixth-year junior high school students, withdrawn from schools.
A professor of philosophy at the University of the Aegean, Constantinos Romanos, told Kathimerini that the book “limits the Greek revolution to a few lines and just mentions the names of a few leaders without any special reference to what they did.”
He claims the book makes the Ottoman rulers seem less strict than they actually were, allowing Greeks to freely follow their customs.
The Church of Greece has also voiced its opposition to the history textbook.
However, 500 academics have signed a letter which calls on education authorities to keep the book in schools. Some of these academics defended the book at yesterday’s press conference.
“The book refuses to pander to feelings of bigotry and animosity,” said Stefanos Pezmazoglou, a professor at Panteion University in Athens. “Most of the books that preceded it more or less cultivated feelings of rivalry and animosity, so that Greeks and Turks being eternal rivals becomes an axiom.”
The woman who headed the editorial team that compiled the book said the criticism she has received is “unprecedented.”
“The editorial team will not accept a correction from the so-called ‘nationalist lobby,’” said Maria Repousi, a professor at Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University.
“The book is a tool, not a bible. We will collect the observations made by academics… and respond to what they have to say,” she added. 3-6-2007
What are the two opinions and what are their sources of belief? Explain.
School history book gets another battering
The Academy of Athens, a research and scientific organization that advises the government, is the latest body to issue a damning verdict of a history textbook for 12-year-olds, according to reports yesterday.
The Education Ministry asked the academy to take a look at the book after the Church of Greece, some historians and parents voiced opposition to the book, which was introduced last September. They believe that it skirts over some of the key moments in Greek history.
In its assessment of the book, the academy accuses the authors of lacking “historical knowledge and thought,” according to a leaked version of its report published in yesterday’s Paron newspaper.
Education Minister Marietta Giannakou accepted on Friday that the book has some problems but rejected calls to withdraw it from schools.
3-19-2007
What position does the Academy of Athens take on the book? What reasons are given for that position?
History book set for correctionThe controversial junior high school history book will be reviewed and altered but not withdrawn, officials said yesterday as academics called for an end to the fuss over the textbook.
Education Minister Marietta Giannakou yesterday handed the book’s authors a report by the Academy of Athens, a research and scientific organization that advises the government.
The report, which has not been made public, suggests some changes be made to the textbook but does not advise the government to replace it completely, sources said.
This position appears to be confirmed by Maria Repousi, a professor at Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University who headed the team that compiled the textbook for 12-year-olds.
“The book will not be withdrawn,” she told Kathimerini. “The authors will meet and examine the proposals that have been submitted.”
Critics of the book, which include the Church of Greece, believe that the authors have not provided enough information about key moments in Greek history and have played down the suffering of Greeks at the hands of Ottoman rulers.
In a statement, Giannakou said that she has asked the book’s authors to “take into account” the points made by the Academy of Athens as well as the Cypriot Education Ministry, which rejected the book outright. The minister has also asked some 200 schoolteachers who have used the book to submit their comments.
The government wants any revisions to the book to be made this summer so it can be reissued in time for the new school year, which begins in September.
In a bid to stave off criticism, the Education Ministry yesterday also sent junior high schools CDs with more information about the subjects covered in the book to be used as teaching aids.
Meanwhile, academics have called for the criticism of the book to be toned down.
“The book has to pass through various stages of approval… it is absolutely necessary that it be evaluated by teachers,” Christina Koulouri, a history professor at the University of the Peloponnese, told Kathimerini. “I am against extreme and fanatical views and those that act in the heat of the moment.”
3-27-2007
What will be done with the book? Why?
In Brief: Book review
The head of the academic team that compiled the controversial primary school history textbook told Sunday’s Kathimerini that the authors will try to improve the book over the summer. Maria Repousi said that the recommendations that which have been made by the Academy of Athens will be taken on board by the authors who will seek to make changes to the book in time for the new school year, which will begin in September. However, Repousi a professor at Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University, stressed that the focus should be on making progress and not let “scaremongering” and “undemocratic practices” be responsible for the book. She said that 12-year-olds should not learn the textbook by heart but should use it as a tool to help them think.
4-2-2007
What will be done?
PM looks...
TATIANA BOLARI/ANA
PM Costas Karamanlis looks over some photos yesterday at the reopening of the ‘Filio Haidemenou’ exhibition at the Asia Minor Hellenism Museum in Nea Philadelphia, northern Athens. Karamanlis said that studying history is a way of helping to avoid a repetition of past mistakes. The premier’s office denied suggestions that Karamanlis’s comments were a veiled criticism of the controversial primary school history textbook.
4-3-2007
Is there some suspicion that the Prime Minister also has opinions about the book? What do you think?
Eminent historians have faced criticism in the past
What do you think are the main reasons behind the attacks on the book? Are they political or scientific and educational?
History in Greece has taught us that the reasons for disputes over textbooks are always ideological and political. Other educational and scientific reasons are added along the way that would not have emerged had the schoolbook not become the target of ideological attacks.
In 1984, for instance, the textbook for the third year of junior high school, written by Vassilis Kremmydas, one of the most distinguished historians and professors of history in Greece, which was criticized for its ideological content, was eventually branded “anti-historical” and anti-educational because of its methodology and language.
In 1985, Lefteris Stavrianos’s book “History of the Human Race,” which was condemned for “atheism” and for overturning “the foundation of Greek civilization,” ended up being judged “historically unfounded” and “educationally deficient.” Remember that Stavrianos (1914-2004), a professor at the University of Chicago, was also an eminent historian and the “father” of global history.
We keep seeing that the scientific and educational argument becomes an alibi for holding history education hostage to notions from the past so as to subvert any development and upgrading of history education for the children and the future citizens of Greece. I believe that this time we can and must handle it differently. We shouldn’t let them take away another good schoolbook.
4-4-2007
What reasons are given to explain why historians have faced problems in the past? Explain.
What examples are given?
To what extent are these arguments valid? Explain.
Educational pretext for ideological attackAcademic Maria Repousi, head of the group that wrote the contentious primary school history textbook, talks to Kathimerini
By Apostolos Lakassas - Kathimerini
What will become of the primary school history textbook that has sparked such opposition? Education Minister Marietta Giannakou made it clear last week that “nobody is talking about withdrawing it. The Education Ministry’s policy is formulated by its leadership.”
The authors will make some changes in line with an Athens Academy report and proposals by teachers. But there is still significant opposition from some segments of the public, political parties and the Church, which want the book withdrawn.
They claim, variously, that the book distorts history, conceals historical events, uses unscientific methodology and underrates the role of the Church in the 1821 struggle for independence.
The Holy Synod even claimed that the book contravenes Article 3 of the Constitution, which states that the Education Ministry must see to the national and religious education of Greek children. “This particular book contravenes the Greek Constitution and attempts to manipulate the minds of young Greek pupils,” the Synod stated.
Maria Repousi, assistant professor of history at Thessaloniki University and head of the authorial team, spoke to Kathimerini about the fate of the book in the coming school year, the changes to be made and the criticism she has received.
4-4-2007
Is there any new information here?
More pages for history book
Education Minister Marietta Giannakou paved the way yesterday for the authors of the controversial primary school history book to counter one of the textbook’s main criticisms by providing more detail about certain events in Greek history.
Giannakou said that the authors would be able to add to the book’s 137 pages when they review it over the summer. The minister said the authors had recognized that they needed to make some changes but she ruled out the possibility of third parties having any say in the process.
The Church of Greece as well as some historians and journalists have spoken out against the book and called for it to be scrapped, but Giannakou insisted yesterday that this would not happen as the government could not “deviate from existing institutions and rules.”
The president of the National Education Council, Professor Thanos Veremis, backed the minister. “I think that some changes are needed but the book should not be withdrawn,” he told Kathimerini.
4-5-2007
Any more progress?